Big setback on first purchase. Seeking ideas to get back up and continue investing

[Chander Sri]

Hi All, 

This is my first post. My best friend who is a avid BP member suggested to reach out here for help. So here it goes....

I bought first single family home (2000sqft) 2 yrs ago in Cedar Park, TX area during peak of market craze at 5% 30yr fixed for around $540k (spent about 10K more replacing hvac etc) with monthly payment of $3600-$4000 and the market corrected sharply to a point comparable homes are not selling even for 440k with a nice pool in them. In the next 1-2 yrs I'd like to move out to either a bigger place or a new new city (job related relocation etc). What are some ideas should i explore so that I can minimize the financial loss in this situation especially given I cannot refinance even if the rates were 0% as my property value won't appraise. Looking back I made some clear very expensive rookies mistakes and learnt them the hard way. I'd really appreciate your inputs.

Some relevant info that may help

- I'm expecting a size able bonus next yr from my stock vests (~$500k)

- the house needs flooring to be replace since the previous owners put cheap laminate stickers that are coming off and counter tops and cabinet repaints. 

- homes are not renting quickly in my areas and even if they rent its below $2k. 

- there is a airbnb in my street which seem to have good occupancy 

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions. Pls ask me if you need more information to help with better suggestion. !! 

[Chris Seveney]

Quote from @Chander Sri:

Hi All, 

This is my first post. My best friend who is a avid BP member suggested to reach out here for help. So here it goes....

I bought first single family home (2000sqft) 2 yrs ago in Cedar Park, TX area during peak of market craze at 5% 30yr fixed for around $540k (spent about 10K more replacing hvac etc) with monthly payment of $3600-$4000 and the market corrected sharply to a point comparable homes are not selling even for 440k with a nice pool in them. In the next 1-2 yrs I'd like to move out to either a bigger place or a new new city (job related relocation etc). What are some ideas should i explore so that I can minimize the financial loss in this situation especially given I cannot refinance even if the rates were 0% as my property value won't appraise. Looking back I made some clear very expensive rookies mistakes and learnt them the hard way. I'd really appreciate your inputs.

Some relevant info that may help

- I'm expecting a size able bonus next yr from my stock vests (~$500k)

- the house needs flooring to be replace since the previous owners put cheap laminate stickers that are coming off and counter tops and cabinet repaints. 

- homes are not renting quickly in my areas and even if they rent its below $2k. 

- there is a airbnb in my street which seem to have good occupancy 

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions. Pls ask me if you need more information to help with better suggestion. !! 

 take your bonus, pay down the home and sell it. not much creativity that can be had. if you try and short sell it the banks could still come back after you and it will crush your credit. chalk it up to a very expensive lesson learned - was it driven by FOMO of feeling like you needed to invest because everyone else was making money?